Leinster prop Heinke van der Merwe has been called up by the Springboks for the rest of their northern hemisphere tour.

When Heyneke Meyer originally announced the South African squad for the tour, he only named 31 players with a 32nd to be added at a later stage if required. There were reports suggesting that Northampton Saints' Brian Mujati was in the mix but Meyer has turned to Leinster front-rower Van der Merwe.

He has previously only played one game for the Boks which was back in 2007 against Wales and he also toured with them in 2009. And with Gurthro Steenkamp struggling with an injury, Van der Merwe may get his chance to add to his solitary cap.

Meyer commented on Van der Merwe's call up saying: "Heinke has played for South Africa before and is based in Dublin, making it easy for him to join the squad. I've been following his career and he has been playing well for Leinster, who are the Heineken Cup champions."